Registration conditions at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole lifted
14 July 2010
Conditions were imposed on the trust after an inspection of the A&E department at the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby.
Inspectors found that patients who were admitted to the hospital by ambulance were:
- asked to wait in the corridor before triage (the process of assessment based on patients’ need for immediate medical treatment)
- not always properly assessed
We gave the trust a deadline of 1 April to ensure:
- all ambulance patients are seen by a senior clinician as soon as possible
- the quality of services provided by the A&E department are regularly assessed and monitored
During an unannounced visit in May, we found that the trust had improved the arrangements for patients in the A&E department. The trust had:
- ensured a nurse was responsible for ‘triaging’ patients upon arrival
- set up protocols to ensure faster handover of patients from ambulance to A&E staff
- secured funding for a new triage area
- arranged for the board to scrutinise the top 10 risks for each department
- given A&E staff more input when it came to clinical governance
- ensured more incidents were reported
Following the new arrangements, approximately 68% of patients brought in by ambulance were triaged within 15 minutes.
